PROCEEDING INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP 2013
12 Dwi Astuti Wahyu Nurhayati
Teaching Speaking Using Local Radio as a Means of
Inspiring Creative Broadcaster
13 Rut Esterlina Sipahutar, S.Pd
Some Linguistic Features of a Four and Half-Year-Old
Child’s Language Acquisition and Its Significance in
Teaching and Learning Process
14 David Berthony Manalu, M.Pd
The Batak Toba Students’ Typical Problems in English
Pronunciation
15 Bobby P.S Dhillon, M.Ed
Lecturers’ Beliefs about Teaching Reading Strategies
and Their Classroom Practices: A Case Study at
Teacher Training Faculty of HKBP Nommensen
University Pematangsiantar
16 Marnala Pangaribuan, M.Hum
The Correlation of Metacognitive Performance towards
Writing Ability in FKIP UHN Pematangsiantar
17 Dedi Suresman, S.Pd
Improving Speaking Skill of Grade Seven of SMP
SATRYA BUDI Karangrejo based on Sociolinguistics
Approach
18 Herman, M.Pd
An Indispensable Tool in Translation at Sixth Semester
of Nommensen University Pematangsiantar
19 Joko Marganda Zose Rizal
Hutagaol
The Implementation of Character-Based Education in
Teaching English through Contextual Teaching
Learning Method (CTL) and Teaching Collaboration
20 Nurianti Sihombing, S.S
The Use of Word Stresses in the Same Written Forms
of Verb and Noun Pairs
21 Kristonny Panjaitan, S.Pd
English Language Acquisition of Santa Lucia Autistic
Students Pematangsiantar
22 Tiarma Intan Marpaung, M.Pd
The Effect of Teaching Methods and Personal Traits on
the Students’ Achievement in Speaking
THE ɒɑTɑK TOɒɑ STUDENTS’ TYPICAL PROBLEMS IN
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
David Berthony Manalu
Universitas HKBP Nommensen
manaludavidberthony@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This research is conducted to find out the students’ problems in pronouncing English words
which is focused on English vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. This research occupies
qualitative analysis. The subjects are the grade 11 students of STM HKBP Pematangsiantar.
Those students come from Batak Toba cultural background. The data is analyzed by first
transcribing the students’ voice into phonetic transcription, and then comparing them to the
Standard English Pronunciation, after that identifying the students’ problems. The researcher
find out that the interference of students’ mother tongue, namely: Batak Toba language, made
the students difficult to pronounce some English phonemes, such as (1) vowels /ə/, and /ɜː/; (2)
diphthongs /eɪ/, /əʊ/, /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/; (3) consonants /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/; and
(4) suffix –s /z/ or /s/, and suffix–ed /d/ or /t/ or /id/. In conclusion, the cause of the interference
of mother tongue in the students’ pronunciation is the absence of such phonemes in ‘Aksara
Batak’ (Batak’s Script). The researcher suggests English teachers to introduce English
phonemes (consonants, vowels, and diphthongs) and stress to class of beginner, and to be a
good model in teaching pronunciation.
Key Words: Pronunciation, vowels, diphthongs, consonants, mother-tongue
I.
INRODUCTION
Pronunciation is recognized as a fundamental ability which students should acquire, primarily
because it can affect accuracy and comprehension. Many learners of English have major difficulties
with pronunciation. Therefore, the emphasis on teaching correct pronunciation i.e. recognizing errors in
pronunciation and correcting them is necessary for an improvement of student’s pronunciation ability.
In general, it is found that English Foreign Language (EFL) students encounter some common
difficulties when learning foreign language pronunciation. According to Brown (1994: 284), the factors
that cause these difficulties are phonological differences between their native language (L1) and their
second language/foreign language (L2). He proposes six factors that affect learner’s pronunciation, i.e.,
native language, age, experience, innate phonetic ability, identity and language ego, and motivation and
concern for good pronunciation ability.
Clearly, the native language is the most influential factor affecting a learner’s pronunciation. If
the teacher is familiar with the sound system of the learners’ native language, he will be better able to
diagnose the student difficulties. Since the learners freely bring their different accents from their native
language in the English classroom, then their English pronunciations sound awkward. This made a big
problem to learning English pronunciation.
The fact that pronunciation tends to suffer from neglect may not be due to teachers’ lacking
interest in the subject but rather to a feeling of doubts as to how to teach it. Many experienced teachers
would admit to a lack of knowledge of the theory of pronunciation and they may therefore feel the need
to improve their practical skills in pronunciation teaching. In spite of the fact that trainee and less
experienced teachers may be very interested in pronunciation, their concern with grammar and
101
vocabulary tends to be the second matters. Language learners, on the other hand, often show
considerable enthusiasm for pronunciation. They feel it is something that would help them to
communicate better. So, even though both teachers and learners are keeping in on the subject, it is often
neglected.
Identification and recognition of the speech sounds will certainly help the foreign learners
understand continuous stream of speech sounds used in real communication. In other words, the ability
to identify and recognize the quality of the speech sounds will certainly help the student to know how
the speech sounds are to be uttered.
The variables in mother tongue that hinder effective communication in English are caused by
differences in phonetics. Most languages, for instance, do not use, or pronounce, the combination in the
same way as it is pronounced in the English language.
II.
2.1
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
English Pronunciation
Skandera and Burleigh (2005: 5) stated that pronunciation deals with the speaker’s knowledge
of the sound system of a language. It is therefore exclusively concerned with competence. It can be
divided into two branches: segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation.
Segmental pronunciation is based on the segmentation of language into individual speech
sounds provided by phonetics. Unlike phonetics, however, segmental pronunciation is not interested in
the production, the physical properties, or the perception of sounds, but in the function and possible
combination of sounds within the sound system. While suprasegmental pronunciation (also called as
prosody) is connected with those features of pronunciation that cannot be segmented because they
extend over more than one segment, or sound. Such features include stress, rhythm, and intonation (also
called as pitch contour or pitch movement).
Pronunciation
Segmental
Consonants
Suprasegmental
Vowels
Single
Stress
Rhythm
Intonation
Diphthongs
2.2
English Consonants
Consonants are sounds that are produced by an obstruction of an air-stream either in the
pharynx or in the vocal tract. There are 24 consonant phonemes in Received Pronunciation (RP) and in
most other accents of English (Skandera & Burleigh, 2005: 20). Consonant is regarded as a typical
speech sound that is articulated either with complete or partial closure of the air stream in the mouth
cavity by means of certain speech organ. The features of consonants can be determined by three main
aspects they are: place of articulation, manner of articulation and vibration of the vocal cords (voiced
and voiceless). The English consonants can be drawn as in the following chart:
102
Bilabial
Plosive
Affricate
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Nasal
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
Dental
Alveolar Post
alveolar
Semi
Vowel
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
?
p
t
k
vd
b
d
g
vl
tʃ
vd
dʒ
vl
m
ŋ
n
vl
vd
Fricative
Palato
alveolar
vl
vd
Lateral
Labio
dental
l
vl
f
θ
s
vd
v
ð
z
ʃ
r
h
ʒ
vl
vd
w
j
2.3
English Vowels
This category or sounds is normally made with a voiced agressive airstream, without any
closure or nerrowing such as would result in the noise component characteristic of many consonant
sounds; moreover, the escape of the air is caracteristically accomplished in an unimpeded way over the
middle line of the tounge (Gimson, 2001:33)
Vowel are made by voiced air passing through different mouth-shapes; the differences in the
shape of the mouth are caused by different position of the tongue and the lips (Connor, 1980:79)
103
2.4
English Diphthongs
A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whole glide acts like one of the long,
simple vowel (Connor, 1980: 84). Diphthongs can be divided into two groups, namely: rising and
centring diphthongs. The rising diphthongs are those ending in high vowels such as /ɪ/ and /ʊ/.
The English rising diphthongs are: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aʊ/, and /oʊ/ (for strong form) or /əʊ/ (for weak
form). While, the English centring diphthongs are those ending in /ə/ such as: /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/.
III.
RESEARCH METHOD
This research is a descriptive qualitative study because it concerns with the natural context of
students’ pronunciation. The subjects are the grade 11 students of STM HKBP Pematangsiantar. Those
students come from Batak Toba cultural background. The data is analyzed based on some techniques:
1. Repeatedly listening to the recorded data.
2. Transcribing the students’ pronunciation by using the IPA phonetic symbol.
3. Finding out the students’ problems in pronouncing English vowels, diphthongs, and consonants.
4. Classifying the students’ problems.
5. Drawing conclusion pertaining to their problems
IV.
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDING
Below is sample of data analysis.
1) He says that he wants us to take it away
Student
: /hi ˈ ses dɜt hi ˈ wonts ʌs ˈ tuː ˈ tek ɪt ɜˈ weɪ/
Standard English : /hi ˈ seɪz ðæt hi ˈ w nts ʌs ˈ tuː ˈ teɪk ɪt əˈ weɪ/
2) You turn to the right at the end of the street
Student
: /juː ˈ tʌrn tu dɜ ˈ raɪt et dɜ ˈ end op dɜ ˈ striː t/
Standard English : /juː ˈ tɜː n tə ðə ˈ raɪt ət ði ˈ end əv ðə ˈ striː t/
3) My friend has just sold two very fine old paintings
Student
: /maɪ ˈ prend hɜs ˈ dʒʌst ˈ sold ˈ tuː ˈ peri ˈ paɪn ˈ old ˈ pentɪŋ/
Standard English :/maɪ ˈ frend həz ˈ dʒʌst ˈ səʊld ˈ tuː ˈ veri ˈ faɪn ˈ əʊld ˈ peɪntɪŋ/
4) I drank a cup of coffee this morning
Student
: /aɪ drɪŋk ɜ kʌp op ˈ kopi dɪs ˈ mornɪŋ/
Standard English : /aɪ dræŋk ə kʌp əv ˈ k fi ðɪs ˈ mɔː .nɪŋ/
5) I have taken my cloth to be cleaned
Student
: /aɪ hæp ˈ tæken maɪ ˈ klot tu bi ˈ klend/
Standard English : /aɪ hæv ˈ teɪkən maɪ ˈ kl θ tə bi ˈ kliː nd/
6) They can’t forget the things he said
Student
: /deɪ kɜnt ˈ porget dɜ ˈ tɪŋs hi ˈ sed/
Standard English : /ðeɪ kənt fəˈ get ðə ˈ θɪŋs hi ˈ sed/
7) She gave me much money yesterday
Student
: /si ˈ gep mɪ mʌc ˈ mʌni jesterˈ deɪ/
104
Standard English : /ʃi ˈ geɪv mɪ mʌtʃ ˈ mʌni ˈ jestədeɪ/
8) She has gone for a walk in the park with my brother
Student
: /si hɜs ˈ gon por æ ˈ wolk ɪn de ˈ p rk wɪt maɪ ˈ brʌder/
Standard English : /ʃi həz ˈ g n fə ə ˈ wɔː k ɪn ðə ˈ p ː k wɪð maɪ ˈ brʌðə/
9) All the people run away when the earthquake happened
Student
: /ol de ˈ piː pel ˈ rʌn ɜˈ weɪ wen de ˈ ertkwɪk ˈ hæpend/
Standard English : /ɔː l ðə ˈ piː pl ˈ rʌn əˈ weɪ wen ðə ˈ ɜː θ.kweɪk ˈ hæpənd/
10) The engineer is repairing the gear of his car
Student
: /de endˈ ʒɪner ɪs ˈ reperɪŋ de gear op hɪs k r/
Standard English : /ði endʒɪˈ nɪər ɪz rɪˈ peərɪŋ ðə gɪə əv hɪz k ː r/
From the comparison of student’s pronunciation and the Standard English pronunciation above,
the analysis are as follows:
a. Pronouncing Vowels
The phonetic transcription from the student’s voice is not relevant with the Standard English in
pronouncing vowels such as:
- /ə/ is pronounced with /ɜ/ in ‘away’ /ɜˈ weɪ/, ‘the’ /dɜ/.
- /ə/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘taken’ /tæken/, ‘yesterday’ /jesterˈ deɪ/, ‘brother’ /brʌder/,
‘people’ /piː pel/, ‘happened’ /hæpend/
- /ɜː / is pronounced with /ʌ/ in ‘turn’ /tʌrn/
- /æ/ is pronounced with /ɪ/ in ‘drank’ /drɪŋk/
- /i/ is pronounced with /æ/ in article ‘the’ /dæ/ preceded by vowel beginning word ‘end’.
- /i/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘repairing’ /ˈ reperɪŋ/
- /i:/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘cleaned’ /klend/
b. Pronouncing Diphthongs
The phonetic transcription from the student’s voice is not relevant with the Standard English in
pronouncing diphthongs such as:
- /eɪ/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘says’ /sez/, ‘take’ /tek/, ‘gave’ /gep/. There is omission of vowel
/ɪ/
- /eɪ/ is pronounced with /ɪ/ in ‘earthquake’ /ertkwɪk/. There is omission of vowel /e/
- /eə/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘repairing’ /ˈ reperɪŋ/
- /ɪə/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘engineer’ /endˈ ʒɪner/
- /ɪə/ is pronounced with /ea/ in ‘gear’ /gear/
- /əʊ/ is pronounced with /o/ in ‘sold’ /sold/, ‘old’ /old/
c. Pronouncing Consonants
The phonetic transcription from the student’s voice is not relevant with the Standard English in
pronouncing consonants such as:
- /ð/ is pronounced with /d/ in ‘that’ /dæt/, ‘this’ /dis/, ‘the’ /dæ/, ‘they’ /dei/, , ‘brother’ /brʌder/
- /ð/ is pronounced with /t/ in ‘with’ /wit/
- /θ/ is pronounced with /t/ in ‘cloth’ /klot/, ‘things’ /tɪŋs/, ‘earthquake’ /ertkwɪk/
105
- /f/ is pronounced with /p/ in ‘friend’ /prend/, ‘fine’ /paɪn/, ‘coffee’ /kopi/, ‘forget’ /ˈ porget/,
‘for’ /por/
- /v/ is pronounced with /p/ in ‘of’ /op/, ‘very’ /peri/, ‘gave’ /gep/, ‘have’ /hæp/
- /ʃ/ is pronounced with /s/ in ‘she’ /si/
- /z/ is pronounced with /s/ in ‘is’ /is/, ‘says’ /ses/, ‘has’ /hæs/, ‘his’ /his/
- /tʃ/ is pronounced with /c/ in ‘much’ /mʌc/
After analyzing the data, the researcher discovers that the interference of students’ mother
tongue, in this case Batak Toba language, made them difficult to pronounce some English phonemes.
The students have problems in:
1. pronouncing vowels, majorly such as: /ə/, and /ɜː/
They are accustomed to pronounce / ɜ / or /e/ instead of /ə/, and /ɜː/. For instance, they
pronounce article ‘the’ with /dɜ/, where the correct pronunciation is /ðə/ (when the preceeding
noun begins with a consonant sound) or /ði/ (when the preceeding noun begins with a vowel
sound).
2. pronouncing diphthongs, such as: /eɪ/, /əʊ/, /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/
The students omit one of the vowels from the diphthong in a word. For instance, they pronounce
/tek/ for verb ‘take’ where it should be pronounced with /teɪk/, or in pronouncing noun
‘engineer’ with /endˈʒɪner/ instead of /endʒɪˈnɪər/.
3. pronouncing consonants, such as: /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/
The students find it hard to distinguish phoneme /ð/ to /d/, /θ/ to /t/, /ʃ/ to /s/, /tʃ/ to /c/ or /s/, /ʒ/
to /s/, /f/ to /p/, /v/ to /p/, and /z/ to /s/. For instance, instead of pronouncing /ðeɪ/ for pronoun
‘they’, the students change the consonant /ð/ to /d/ becomes /dei/. Another example is /θɪŋs/ for
word ‘things’ has been pronounced by the students with /tings/
The students’ problems above can be simplified into table as follows:
Table 1. The comparison of English vowels and students’ vowels
English Students’
Vowels Vowels
/ə/
/ɜ/
/ɜː/
/ur/
/ɜː/
/ær/
Table 2. The comparison of English diphthongs and students’ vowels
English
Students’
Diphthongs Diphthongs
/eɪ/
/e/
/əʊ/
/o/
/eə/
/ ɜ/
/ɪə/
/ɪ/
/ʊə/
/u/
Table 3. The comparison of English consonants and students’ consonants
English
Students’
Diphthongs Diphthongs
106
/ð/
/θ/
/ʃ/
/tʃ/
/ʒ/
/f/
/v/
/z/
/d/
/t/
/s/
/c/ or /s/
/s/
/p/
/p/
/s/
V.
CONCLUSION
The students’ problems in pronouncing English words above are caused by the interference of
the students’ mother tongue, namely: Batak Toba language. In Batak Toba phoneme (Aksara Batak),
there are no phonemes such as vowels /ə/, and /ɜː/; and consonants /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/.
Since the research subjects are the students who are used to speak Batak Toba language in their daily
life, so it is obvious that they find it difficult to pronounce such phonemes by themselves.
But, there is always solution for every problem. It is the great responsibility of an English
teacher to teach and train better English pronunciation to his/her students. Teacher should speak and
read at a normal speed so that the students will not get used to a pace different to that which they hear
outside the classroom. When speaking or reading, it is important to the teacher to read or speak with
more expression so making the pronunciation deliberately more audible. Moreover, it is easier for an
EFL (English as foreign language) student to copy and remember an excited expression.
REFERENCES
1) Brosnahan, L.F and B. Malmberg. 1970. Introduction to Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2) Brown, Douglas. 1994. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy, Second Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
3) Gimson, A.C. 1962. An Introduction to Pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold.
4) Haycraft, Brita. 1971. The Teaching of Pronunciation. London: Longman.
5) Jones, Daniel. 1979. An Outline of English Phonetics, New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers.
6) Kelly, Gerald. 2000. How to Teach Pronunciation. Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited.
7) Kenworthy, Joanne. 1987. Teaching English Pronunciation. New York: Longman.
8) O’Connor, J. D. 1980. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9) Roach, Peter. 2000. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course, Second Edition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10) Skandera, Paul & Peter Burleigh. 2005. A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology.
Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen.
107
Teaching Speaking Using Local Radio as a Means of
Inspiring Creative Broadcaster
13 Rut Esterlina Sipahutar, S.Pd
Some Linguistic Features of a Four and Half-Year-Old
Child’s Language Acquisition and Its Significance in
Teaching and Learning Process
14 David Berthony Manalu, M.Pd
The Batak Toba Students’ Typical Problems in English
Pronunciation
15 Bobby P.S Dhillon, M.Ed
Lecturers’ Beliefs about Teaching Reading Strategies
and Their Classroom Practices: A Case Study at
Teacher Training Faculty of HKBP Nommensen
University Pematangsiantar
16 Marnala Pangaribuan, M.Hum
The Correlation of Metacognitive Performance towards
Writing Ability in FKIP UHN Pematangsiantar
17 Dedi Suresman, S.Pd
Improving Speaking Skill of Grade Seven of SMP
SATRYA BUDI Karangrejo based on Sociolinguistics
Approach
18 Herman, M.Pd
An Indispensable Tool in Translation at Sixth Semester
of Nommensen University Pematangsiantar
19 Joko Marganda Zose Rizal
Hutagaol
The Implementation of Character-Based Education in
Teaching English through Contextual Teaching
Learning Method (CTL) and Teaching Collaboration
20 Nurianti Sihombing, S.S
The Use of Word Stresses in the Same Written Forms
of Verb and Noun Pairs
21 Kristonny Panjaitan, S.Pd
English Language Acquisition of Santa Lucia Autistic
Students Pematangsiantar
22 Tiarma Intan Marpaung, M.Pd
The Effect of Teaching Methods and Personal Traits on
the Students’ Achievement in Speaking
THE ɒɑTɑK TOɒɑ STUDENTS’ TYPICAL PROBLEMS IN
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
David Berthony Manalu
Universitas HKBP Nommensen
manaludavidberthony@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This research is conducted to find out the students’ problems in pronouncing English words
which is focused on English vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. This research occupies
qualitative analysis. The subjects are the grade 11 students of STM HKBP Pematangsiantar.
Those students come from Batak Toba cultural background. The data is analyzed by first
transcribing the students’ voice into phonetic transcription, and then comparing them to the
Standard English Pronunciation, after that identifying the students’ problems. The researcher
find out that the interference of students’ mother tongue, namely: Batak Toba language, made
the students difficult to pronounce some English phonemes, such as (1) vowels /ə/, and /ɜː/; (2)
diphthongs /eɪ/, /əʊ/, /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/; (3) consonants /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/; and
(4) suffix –s /z/ or /s/, and suffix–ed /d/ or /t/ or /id/. In conclusion, the cause of the interference
of mother tongue in the students’ pronunciation is the absence of such phonemes in ‘Aksara
Batak’ (Batak’s Script). The researcher suggests English teachers to introduce English
phonemes (consonants, vowels, and diphthongs) and stress to class of beginner, and to be a
good model in teaching pronunciation.
Key Words: Pronunciation, vowels, diphthongs, consonants, mother-tongue
I.
INRODUCTION
Pronunciation is recognized as a fundamental ability which students should acquire, primarily
because it can affect accuracy and comprehension. Many learners of English have major difficulties
with pronunciation. Therefore, the emphasis on teaching correct pronunciation i.e. recognizing errors in
pronunciation and correcting them is necessary for an improvement of student’s pronunciation ability.
In general, it is found that English Foreign Language (EFL) students encounter some common
difficulties when learning foreign language pronunciation. According to Brown (1994: 284), the factors
that cause these difficulties are phonological differences between their native language (L1) and their
second language/foreign language (L2). He proposes six factors that affect learner’s pronunciation, i.e.,
native language, age, experience, innate phonetic ability, identity and language ego, and motivation and
concern for good pronunciation ability.
Clearly, the native language is the most influential factor affecting a learner’s pronunciation. If
the teacher is familiar with the sound system of the learners’ native language, he will be better able to
diagnose the student difficulties. Since the learners freely bring their different accents from their native
language in the English classroom, then their English pronunciations sound awkward. This made a big
problem to learning English pronunciation.
The fact that pronunciation tends to suffer from neglect may not be due to teachers’ lacking
interest in the subject but rather to a feeling of doubts as to how to teach it. Many experienced teachers
would admit to a lack of knowledge of the theory of pronunciation and they may therefore feel the need
to improve their practical skills in pronunciation teaching. In spite of the fact that trainee and less
experienced teachers may be very interested in pronunciation, their concern with grammar and
101
vocabulary tends to be the second matters. Language learners, on the other hand, often show
considerable enthusiasm for pronunciation. They feel it is something that would help them to
communicate better. So, even though both teachers and learners are keeping in on the subject, it is often
neglected.
Identification and recognition of the speech sounds will certainly help the foreign learners
understand continuous stream of speech sounds used in real communication. In other words, the ability
to identify and recognize the quality of the speech sounds will certainly help the student to know how
the speech sounds are to be uttered.
The variables in mother tongue that hinder effective communication in English are caused by
differences in phonetics. Most languages, for instance, do not use, or pronounce, the combination in the
same way as it is pronounced in the English language.
II.
2.1
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
English Pronunciation
Skandera and Burleigh (2005: 5) stated that pronunciation deals with the speaker’s knowledge
of the sound system of a language. It is therefore exclusively concerned with competence. It can be
divided into two branches: segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation.
Segmental pronunciation is based on the segmentation of language into individual speech
sounds provided by phonetics. Unlike phonetics, however, segmental pronunciation is not interested in
the production, the physical properties, or the perception of sounds, but in the function and possible
combination of sounds within the sound system. While suprasegmental pronunciation (also called as
prosody) is connected with those features of pronunciation that cannot be segmented because they
extend over more than one segment, or sound. Such features include stress, rhythm, and intonation (also
called as pitch contour or pitch movement).
Pronunciation
Segmental
Consonants
Suprasegmental
Vowels
Single
Stress
Rhythm
Intonation
Diphthongs
2.2
English Consonants
Consonants are sounds that are produced by an obstruction of an air-stream either in the
pharynx or in the vocal tract. There are 24 consonant phonemes in Received Pronunciation (RP) and in
most other accents of English (Skandera & Burleigh, 2005: 20). Consonant is regarded as a typical
speech sound that is articulated either with complete or partial closure of the air stream in the mouth
cavity by means of certain speech organ. The features of consonants can be determined by three main
aspects they are: place of articulation, manner of articulation and vibration of the vocal cords (voiced
and voiceless). The English consonants can be drawn as in the following chart:
102
Bilabial
Plosive
Affricate
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Nasal
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
Dental
Alveolar Post
alveolar
Semi
Vowel
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
?
p
t
k
vd
b
d
g
vl
tʃ
vd
dʒ
vl
m
ŋ
n
vl
vd
Fricative
Palato
alveolar
vl
vd
Lateral
Labio
dental
l
vl
f
θ
s
vd
v
ð
z
ʃ
r
h
ʒ
vl
vd
w
j
2.3
English Vowels
This category or sounds is normally made with a voiced agressive airstream, without any
closure or nerrowing such as would result in the noise component characteristic of many consonant
sounds; moreover, the escape of the air is caracteristically accomplished in an unimpeded way over the
middle line of the tounge (Gimson, 2001:33)
Vowel are made by voiced air passing through different mouth-shapes; the differences in the
shape of the mouth are caused by different position of the tongue and the lips (Connor, 1980:79)
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2.4
English Diphthongs
A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whole glide acts like one of the long,
simple vowel (Connor, 1980: 84). Diphthongs can be divided into two groups, namely: rising and
centring diphthongs. The rising diphthongs are those ending in high vowels such as /ɪ/ and /ʊ/.
The English rising diphthongs are: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aʊ/, and /oʊ/ (for strong form) or /əʊ/ (for weak
form). While, the English centring diphthongs are those ending in /ə/ such as: /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/.
III.
RESEARCH METHOD
This research is a descriptive qualitative study because it concerns with the natural context of
students’ pronunciation. The subjects are the grade 11 students of STM HKBP Pematangsiantar. Those
students come from Batak Toba cultural background. The data is analyzed based on some techniques:
1. Repeatedly listening to the recorded data.
2. Transcribing the students’ pronunciation by using the IPA phonetic symbol.
3. Finding out the students’ problems in pronouncing English vowels, diphthongs, and consonants.
4. Classifying the students’ problems.
5. Drawing conclusion pertaining to their problems
IV.
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDING
Below is sample of data analysis.
1) He says that he wants us to take it away
Student
: /hi ˈ ses dɜt hi ˈ wonts ʌs ˈ tuː ˈ tek ɪt ɜˈ weɪ/
Standard English : /hi ˈ seɪz ðæt hi ˈ w nts ʌs ˈ tuː ˈ teɪk ɪt əˈ weɪ/
2) You turn to the right at the end of the street
Student
: /juː ˈ tʌrn tu dɜ ˈ raɪt et dɜ ˈ end op dɜ ˈ striː t/
Standard English : /juː ˈ tɜː n tə ðə ˈ raɪt ət ði ˈ end əv ðə ˈ striː t/
3) My friend has just sold two very fine old paintings
Student
: /maɪ ˈ prend hɜs ˈ dʒʌst ˈ sold ˈ tuː ˈ peri ˈ paɪn ˈ old ˈ pentɪŋ/
Standard English :/maɪ ˈ frend həz ˈ dʒʌst ˈ səʊld ˈ tuː ˈ veri ˈ faɪn ˈ əʊld ˈ peɪntɪŋ/
4) I drank a cup of coffee this morning
Student
: /aɪ drɪŋk ɜ kʌp op ˈ kopi dɪs ˈ mornɪŋ/
Standard English : /aɪ dræŋk ə kʌp əv ˈ k fi ðɪs ˈ mɔː .nɪŋ/
5) I have taken my cloth to be cleaned
Student
: /aɪ hæp ˈ tæken maɪ ˈ klot tu bi ˈ klend/
Standard English : /aɪ hæv ˈ teɪkən maɪ ˈ kl θ tə bi ˈ kliː nd/
6) They can’t forget the things he said
Student
: /deɪ kɜnt ˈ porget dɜ ˈ tɪŋs hi ˈ sed/
Standard English : /ðeɪ kənt fəˈ get ðə ˈ θɪŋs hi ˈ sed/
7) She gave me much money yesterday
Student
: /si ˈ gep mɪ mʌc ˈ mʌni jesterˈ deɪ/
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Standard English : /ʃi ˈ geɪv mɪ mʌtʃ ˈ mʌni ˈ jestədeɪ/
8) She has gone for a walk in the park with my brother
Student
: /si hɜs ˈ gon por æ ˈ wolk ɪn de ˈ p rk wɪt maɪ ˈ brʌder/
Standard English : /ʃi həz ˈ g n fə ə ˈ wɔː k ɪn ðə ˈ p ː k wɪð maɪ ˈ brʌðə/
9) All the people run away when the earthquake happened
Student
: /ol de ˈ piː pel ˈ rʌn ɜˈ weɪ wen de ˈ ertkwɪk ˈ hæpend/
Standard English : /ɔː l ðə ˈ piː pl ˈ rʌn əˈ weɪ wen ðə ˈ ɜː θ.kweɪk ˈ hæpənd/
10) The engineer is repairing the gear of his car
Student
: /de endˈ ʒɪner ɪs ˈ reperɪŋ de gear op hɪs k r/
Standard English : /ði endʒɪˈ nɪər ɪz rɪˈ peərɪŋ ðə gɪə əv hɪz k ː r/
From the comparison of student’s pronunciation and the Standard English pronunciation above,
the analysis are as follows:
a. Pronouncing Vowels
The phonetic transcription from the student’s voice is not relevant with the Standard English in
pronouncing vowels such as:
- /ə/ is pronounced with /ɜ/ in ‘away’ /ɜˈ weɪ/, ‘the’ /dɜ/.
- /ə/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘taken’ /tæken/, ‘yesterday’ /jesterˈ deɪ/, ‘brother’ /brʌder/,
‘people’ /piː pel/, ‘happened’ /hæpend/
- /ɜː / is pronounced with /ʌ/ in ‘turn’ /tʌrn/
- /æ/ is pronounced with /ɪ/ in ‘drank’ /drɪŋk/
- /i/ is pronounced with /æ/ in article ‘the’ /dæ/ preceded by vowel beginning word ‘end’.
- /i/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘repairing’ /ˈ reperɪŋ/
- /i:/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘cleaned’ /klend/
b. Pronouncing Diphthongs
The phonetic transcription from the student’s voice is not relevant with the Standard English in
pronouncing diphthongs such as:
- /eɪ/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘says’ /sez/, ‘take’ /tek/, ‘gave’ /gep/. There is omission of vowel
/ɪ/
- /eɪ/ is pronounced with /ɪ/ in ‘earthquake’ /ertkwɪk/. There is omission of vowel /e/
- /eə/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘repairing’ /ˈ reperɪŋ/
- /ɪə/ is pronounced with /e/ in ‘engineer’ /endˈ ʒɪner/
- /ɪə/ is pronounced with /ea/ in ‘gear’ /gear/
- /əʊ/ is pronounced with /o/ in ‘sold’ /sold/, ‘old’ /old/
c. Pronouncing Consonants
The phonetic transcription from the student’s voice is not relevant with the Standard English in
pronouncing consonants such as:
- /ð/ is pronounced with /d/ in ‘that’ /dæt/, ‘this’ /dis/, ‘the’ /dæ/, ‘they’ /dei/, , ‘brother’ /brʌder/
- /ð/ is pronounced with /t/ in ‘with’ /wit/
- /θ/ is pronounced with /t/ in ‘cloth’ /klot/, ‘things’ /tɪŋs/, ‘earthquake’ /ertkwɪk/
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- /f/ is pronounced with /p/ in ‘friend’ /prend/, ‘fine’ /paɪn/, ‘coffee’ /kopi/, ‘forget’ /ˈ porget/,
‘for’ /por/
- /v/ is pronounced with /p/ in ‘of’ /op/, ‘very’ /peri/, ‘gave’ /gep/, ‘have’ /hæp/
- /ʃ/ is pronounced with /s/ in ‘she’ /si/
- /z/ is pronounced with /s/ in ‘is’ /is/, ‘says’ /ses/, ‘has’ /hæs/, ‘his’ /his/
- /tʃ/ is pronounced with /c/ in ‘much’ /mʌc/
After analyzing the data, the researcher discovers that the interference of students’ mother
tongue, in this case Batak Toba language, made them difficult to pronounce some English phonemes.
The students have problems in:
1. pronouncing vowels, majorly such as: /ə/, and /ɜː/
They are accustomed to pronounce / ɜ / or /e/ instead of /ə/, and /ɜː/. For instance, they
pronounce article ‘the’ with /dɜ/, where the correct pronunciation is /ðə/ (when the preceeding
noun begins with a consonant sound) or /ði/ (when the preceeding noun begins with a vowel
sound).
2. pronouncing diphthongs, such as: /eɪ/, /əʊ/, /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/
The students omit one of the vowels from the diphthong in a word. For instance, they pronounce
/tek/ for verb ‘take’ where it should be pronounced with /teɪk/, or in pronouncing noun
‘engineer’ with /endˈʒɪner/ instead of /endʒɪˈnɪər/.
3. pronouncing consonants, such as: /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/
The students find it hard to distinguish phoneme /ð/ to /d/, /θ/ to /t/, /ʃ/ to /s/, /tʃ/ to /c/ or /s/, /ʒ/
to /s/, /f/ to /p/, /v/ to /p/, and /z/ to /s/. For instance, instead of pronouncing /ðeɪ/ for pronoun
‘they’, the students change the consonant /ð/ to /d/ becomes /dei/. Another example is /θɪŋs/ for
word ‘things’ has been pronounced by the students with /tings/
The students’ problems above can be simplified into table as follows:
Table 1. The comparison of English vowels and students’ vowels
English Students’
Vowels Vowels
/ə/
/ɜ/
/ɜː/
/ur/
/ɜː/
/ær/
Table 2. The comparison of English diphthongs and students’ vowels
English
Students’
Diphthongs Diphthongs
/eɪ/
/e/
/əʊ/
/o/
/eə/
/ ɜ/
/ɪə/
/ɪ/
/ʊə/
/u/
Table 3. The comparison of English consonants and students’ consonants
English
Students’
Diphthongs Diphthongs
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/ð/
/θ/
/ʃ/
/tʃ/
/ʒ/
/f/
/v/
/z/
/d/
/t/
/s/
/c/ or /s/
/s/
/p/
/p/
/s/
V.
CONCLUSION
The students’ problems in pronouncing English words above are caused by the interference of
the students’ mother tongue, namely: Batak Toba language. In Batak Toba phoneme (Aksara Batak),
there are no phonemes such as vowels /ə/, and /ɜː/; and consonants /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/.
Since the research subjects are the students who are used to speak Batak Toba language in their daily
life, so it is obvious that they find it difficult to pronounce such phonemes by themselves.
But, there is always solution for every problem. It is the great responsibility of an English
teacher to teach and train better English pronunciation to his/her students. Teacher should speak and
read at a normal speed so that the students will not get used to a pace different to that which they hear
outside the classroom. When speaking or reading, it is important to the teacher to read or speak with
more expression so making the pronunciation deliberately more audible. Moreover, it is easier for an
EFL (English as foreign language) student to copy and remember an excited expression.
REFERENCES
1) Brosnahan, L.F and B. Malmberg. 1970. Introduction to Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2) Brown, Douglas. 1994. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy, Second Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
3) Gimson, A.C. 1962. An Introduction to Pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold.
4) Haycraft, Brita. 1971. The Teaching of Pronunciation. London: Longman.
5) Jones, Daniel. 1979. An Outline of English Phonetics, New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers.
6) Kelly, Gerald. 2000. How to Teach Pronunciation. Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited.
7) Kenworthy, Joanne. 1987. Teaching English Pronunciation. New York: Longman.
8) O’Connor, J. D. 1980. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9) Roach, Peter. 2000. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course, Second Edition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10) Skandera, Paul & Peter Burleigh. 2005. A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology.
Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen.
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